Ottava Rima

The Italian eight-line stanza — six rhymes and a closing couplet — built for epic narration and mock-heroic wit.

Specifications & Metrics

type

Fixed stanzaic form

origin

14th-century Italy

originator

Boccaccio (established in Italian epic)

meter

Iambic pentameter (English); hendecasyllabic (Italian)

lines count

8

Core Principles & Analysis

• Eight lines rhyming abababcc, closing with a couplet.
• Boccaccio fixed the stanza for Italian narrative verse.
• Byron used it in Don Juan for epic scale with comic timing.

Sources

• Wikipedia: Ottava rima